Featured Post

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Obama Breaks Mold, to Visit Hiroshima

Update, May 10, 2016: PresidentObama announced today that he will become first president to visit Hiroshima while in office but will not apologize for U.S. using the bomb (nor has Hiroshima demanded this, even if warranted).

Secretary of State John Kerry toured the Hiroshima memorial sites last month and said: .
“It is a stunning display. It is a gut-wrenching display, It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It
reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices in war and
of what war does to people, to communities, to countries, to the
world.”

UPDATE 2013: Caroline Kennedy sworn in as new U.S. ambassador--and if the new tradition holds, she will represent America at the Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial services next August. Here father never got there, but she will.

Earlier: Sensitive to world opinion about the use of atomic weapons against
Japan in 1945, no American president has ever visited Hiroshima and
Nagasaki while in office. Except for Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former
general, none of them has expressed any misgivings about the use of the
bombs in 1945. Shortly after becoming president, however, Barack Obama
took the surprising step of at least expressing a desire to go to the
two cities.

Then, in 2011, for the first time, a US ambassador
to Japan, John Roos, attended the annual August 6 commemoration in
Hiroshima. And in 2011, for the first time ever, the United States sent
an official representative to the annual memorial service in
Nagasaki—the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Tokyo, James
P. Zumwalt. He read a statement from Obama expressing hope to work with
Japan for a world without nuclear weapons, a goal the president
expressed early in his term but has made little progress on achieving. “I
was deeply moved,” Zumwalt told reporters after attending the ceremony.
“Japan and the United States have the common vision for a world free of
nuclear weapons, so it is important that the two countries make efforts
to realize it.”

Naturally, many conservatives accused Obama of "apologizing" for Truman dropping the bomb.

This year, Roos will again attend the Hiroshima memorial--meaning
this has truly become a new tradition, at least under this president.
Next year, it appears, Caroline Kennedy will do the honors, with her special link to a former president.

While
many Japanese hail the US moves, some of the survivors of the bombing
and their ancestors are skeptical. Katsumi Matsuo, who lost her mother
in the attack, told the Mainichi Shimbun in 2011, “What is the
point in him coming now, after 66 years? His visit will only be
meaningful if it promotes a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Still,
Obama has broken a sad record of total denial, which has accompanied
the suppression of key evidence about the effects of the bombings (as
chronicled in my new book and e-book Atomic Cover-up) dating back to the 1940s.

Of
course, there was no way President Truman was going to make that visit,
even telling an aide, after leaving the White House, that while he
might meet with survivors of the bombing in the United States, he would
“not kiss their asses.” President Eisenhower did not visit the atomic
cities, but he famously expressed displeasure with the use of the bombs
in 1945, saying we shouldn’t have hit Japan “with that awful thing.”
Richard Nixon came to Hiroshima before becoming president.

Reflecting on
the visit in a 1985 interview with Roger Rosenblatt, he said the
bombings saved lives, but noted that General Douglas MacArthur had told
him it was a “tragedy” that the weapon was used against “noncombatants.”

Jimmy
Carter visited Hiroshima after leaving office but did not take part in
any ceremony or comment afterward. Ronald Reagan also invoked the notion
that the bombings actually saved lives. When protests from
conservatives and some veterans groups caused first the censorship, then
shutdown, of a full exploration of the atomic bombings at the Air &
Space Museum in Washington, DC, in 1995, President Clinton backed the
suppression.

So two cheers for Obama for at least marking what
happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Next step: an honest American
reappraisal of the bombings and real progress on nuclear abolition.

Note: Last year, President Harry S Truman’s grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel, became the first kin of the president (son of his daughter) to step foot in one of the two cities he ordered destroyed in August 1945, killing over 200,000, the vast majority civilians. Four days before the annual commemoration, he toured the city and exhibits in the Peace Museum and met with survivors who seemed pleased, while pointing out they still held his granddad in low esteem.

Then on the morning of August 6--late on August 5 in the U.S.--he took part in the annual official ceremony in Hiroshima's Peace Park (which I attended back in1984). He told journalists that it was hard to listen to the tragic stories of the survivors but he was glad he did it to gain a wider appreciation of the effects (and in some cases, after-effects) of his grandfather's action. Japanese leaders made their annual pleas for antinuclear policies, with growing emphasis on the nuclear power aspects after the Fukushima disaster.

Daniel said he did not second-guess Truman’s decision, offering the usual bromides about no-good-decisions in war. He should be congratulated for at least making the trip, but his name might he Denial, not Daniel. Some no-good decisions are worse than others.

is author of a dozen books (click on covers at right), including the new "THE TUNNELS: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill." He was the longtime editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: epic1934@aol.com. Twitter: @GregMitch

No comments:

ORDER MY NEW BOOK

Just published in October by Crown. Click on cover (above) to order at nice discount. It's a thrilling history of escape tunnels--under the Berlin Wall--and JFK's attempt to suppress NBC and CBS films about them at the height of the Cold War.. Hailed by The New York Times Book Review, Bill Moyers, and Frederick Forsyth, among others, and feaured by NPR"s Scott Simon. Paul Greengrass attached to direct movie. "A fascinating and complex picture of the interplay between politics and media in the Cold War era.” -- Washington Post. "A gripping, blow-by-blow account."--Publishers Weekly (starred review).

"Atomic Cover-up": Shocking suppression of U.S. film

How U.S. buried for decades the key footage from Hiroshima shot by the U.S. military. Click on cover above for my popular book and e-book.

My Book on the Bomb with Robert Jay Lifton

Acclaimed book on nuclear culture, and political and psychological fallout in the USA. Written with Robert Jay Lifton. Click on cover to read more or order.

Award-Winning 'Campaign of the Century''

"Upton Sinclair's Race for Governor of California--and the Birth of Media Politics": Amazingly influential and wild 1934 race with great relevance for today.

Hollywood and The Bomb

My book on MGM's 1947 epic on Hiroshima and creating the first bomb--and the White House censorship that wrecked it. E-book just $2.99.

New Edition of my "Tricky Dick and The Pink Lady"

The notorious Nixon-Douglas race in 1950, a New York Times Notable Book, now in new print and e-book versions.

New Edition of my book on Bush, and Media, Failures on Iraq

Preface by Bruce Springsteen. "Read this book--twice." -- Bill Moyers

New Edition of Our Beethoven Book!

G.M.'s book w/ Kerry Candaele, a tie-in to our new acclaimed film. E-book and print.

"Vonnegut and Me" E-book

Conversations and close encounters with the novelist. Click cover for more. $2.99.

How the President and the Military Censored MGM's Anti-Nuke Epic!

The truly wild and important story on the unmaking of 'Most Important Movie Ever Made.' Just $3.29. Click cover to order.

My Latest Book: On Hollywood Politics!

Why and when did the movie biz turn "liberal"? The full and fun story, and the left-wing election campaign that sparked it. Click on cover for more. $3.99.

Unique E-Book on the Obama-Romney Race

Probes campaign 2012 and the aftermath--plus 500 clickable links to key stories and videos! Just $2.99. Click on image above to read more or order.

Search This Blog!

New Edition of U.S. vs. Pvt. Manning Book

Updated: The saga of the whistleblowing soldier, written with Kevin Gosztola. Hailed by Glenn Greenwald, Daniel Ellsberg. Click cover for more.

E-Book on 2008 Election--and Lessons for 2012

Read about or order acclaimed book and e-book by clicking the cover.

Groundbreaking Book on WikiLeaks

The rise of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

My popular e-book on Occupy

The first book on the OWS movement, from late 2011, with hundreds of links to key stories and videos.

Blog Archive

My Book About Coaching My Son in Little League

Fun "classic" for all parents, optioned by Tom Hanks for a movie. Click on cover to read more or order.